Investment bankers feign surprise as man rarely seen in the office quits before bonuses

It's not easy being a senior M&A banker. On one hand, you're expected to be out on the road, pressing the flesh, lining up deals with clients. On the other, you need to be in the office, motivating juniors, watching your back and building your network of internal supporters in case things take a turn for the worse.

Although De Giorgi is technically leaving before BofA's 2018 bonuses are either announced or paid, BAML's M&A bankers are unlikely to be surprised. "He wasn't entirely present," says one observer, speaking off the record and noting that De Giorgi's exit became a near inevitability when Meissner left. The two men worked together at Goldman Sachs and Meissner promoted De Giorgi to lead the business in 2016. "This was always going to happen," says one M&A headhunter. "Meissner and De Giorgi are incredibly close and everyone was expecting this." De Giorgi is a hugely personable, "hugely intelligent" guy, he adds.

Irrespective of his intelligence and pleasant character, some at BAML may welcome the exit of De Giorgi and Meissner. - The FT claimed last year that both he and Meissner preferred bankers who were loyal to them. Now, BAML's bankers will need to transfer their loyalty to Koder and his newly appointed heads of investment banking, Jack MacDonald and Thomas Sheehan, both of whom happen to be based in the US. By comparison, De Giorgi was based in London. - His exit, and the the fact that Luigi Rizzo, BAML's EMEA head of investment banking, is moving to Paris, leaves London bankers looking curiously exposed.

Have a confidential story, tip, or comment you’d like to share? Contact: sbutcher@efinancialcareers.com in the first instance. Whatsapp/Signal/Telegram also available. Bear with us if you leave a comment at the bottom of this article: all our comments are moderated by human beings. Sometimes these humans might be asleep, or away from their desks, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. Eventually it will – unless it’s offensive or libelous (in which case it won’t.)